A Day Info

Policemen Narrowly Escape Lynching In Warri

An angry mob in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria almost took the law into their hands when they apprehended some erring police officers.

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But for an Army officer, who saved the situation, two Mobile Policemen, Mopol, who specialised in robbing victims under the cover of fighting cyber crimes, would have been lynched, weekend, in Warri, Delta State.

The yet-to-be identified duo were apprehended by men of the Warri ‘B’ Divisional Police Office, who were alerted by some people at the popular Gbagi Plaza, Warri, where the Mopols were caught trying to sell an expensive phone they seized from a victim days back. A source at the Warri ‘B’ Division, told Vanguard:

“But for the efforts of a plain-clothes Army officer, who was there at the right moment, both of them would have been lynched by a mob.

“This gang (Mopol) moves about on hired Keke (tricycle) prowling major roads for mostly roughly-dressed young men carrying expensive phones. Their mode of operation is to allow the victim enter their Keke as though they were co-travellers.

“Once you were in, they label you as ‘Yahoo Boy’ (419), flash their identity cards and ask you to bail yourself instantly or risk being taken to the Police station. A victim, who came to lay a complaint said they collected N40,000 from him and seized his iPhone.

“Incidentally, the authorities of the phone repairers union at the plaza caught the duo bargaining to sell one of their stolen phones to a colleague. Soon a mob started building, but a plain-clothes Army officer came to their rescue and personally led the Police team that brought them to the station.”

A leader of the phone technicians at the plaza told Vanguard: “We have suffered so much for patronising stolen phone sellers. We are now a lot more careful and that has helped us have peace and helped victims recover a lot of stolen phones.”